When we talk about colors at the tertiary level or greater, we often get confused as to how they look like and how to differentiate between them. The prime colors like blue, green, red, yellow, and some other colors are quite easy to be differentiated. They also happen to bear resemblance to other colors and so people get confused as to how to differentiate between them and other colors in the same range.
There are a variety of colors in the greenish-blue shade (known as a cyan spectrum) and hence it is difficult to understand the difference between them. A common example of such colors includes the aqua and turquoise color. They look almost the same as each other.
Aqua vs Turquoise
The main difference between the Aqua and Turquoise color is that the aqua color is basically blue with a hint of green. On the other hand, the turquoise is green with blue. Hence, we can say Turquoise has a comparatively greener shade than the blue shade whereas aqua has a more bluish shade than green.
Comparison Table Between Aqua and Turquoise
| Parameter of Comparison | Aqua | Turquoise |
|---|---|---|
| Origin of the name of color | The word Aqua is a Latin word that means water. | The color turquoise comes from the french word “turquoise” meaning Turkish as it describes a gemstone that was from Turkey. It was a blue-green gemstone. |
| Hexadecimal code | #00FFFF is the hexadecimal code for the aqua color. | #30D5C8 is the hexadecimal code for the turquoise color. |
| RGB value (Red, Green, Blue) | RGB (0, 255, 255) | RGB (64, 224, 208) |
| Description | Aqua is a variation of cyan color. It is basically blue with a hint of green. | Turquoise is a greenish-blue color, i.e it is more on the greener side than the blue side. |
| Psychology | In psychology, the aqua color represents liveliness, trust, and rejuvenation. | In psychology, the turquoise color represents calmness, and peace of mind. It also symbolizes confidence, mental clarity, and energy. |
What is Aqua?
The word ‘aqua’ is derived from the Latin word aqua meaning ‘water’. Aqua is a contrast of cyan and it is the color that lies between blue and green.
Cyan and aqua are two colors that look so alike that they can be used in place of one another in web designing. There is no noticeable difference between them. Just like cyan the RGB color model of aqua is (0, 255, 255) which implies that there is 0 redd, 255 green, and 255 blue in the aqua color.
Aqua is a vibrant color with a distinct tone, and it goes well with dark colors like black or grey. It can also be combined with bright colors like yellow or orange.
The hex code for aqua is #00FFFF. It is made of 0% magenta, 0% yellow, 0%black and 100% cyan. Also, it has a lightness of 50% and a saturation of 100%.
Aqua can be easily identified in the color wheel as it one of the most common cyan tones that lie between blue and green.
The colors related to aqua are:
- Green
- Blue
- Cyan
Talking about psychology, liveliness, trust, and rejuvenation is what the aqua color represents.
What is Turquoise?
Originally, turquoise was a greenish-blue gemstone mineral that was imported from Turkey. Hence it gots its name from that stone and it used to describe a shade of greenish-blue color. This name was first used in 1573.
The turquoise color can be used to describe the color of seawater. Basically, the color of turquoise has more green shade than the blue shade. Turquoise has other shades as well, namely, celeste and light turquoise, medium turquoise, or darker turquoise.
It is a versatile color and it can be combined with several colors such as pink, maroon, yellow, or white.
The RGB color model of turquoise is (64, 224, 208) which means the value of red is 64, the value of green is 224 and that of blue is 208. The hexadecimal code for turquoise is #30D5C8.
Talking about psychology, calmness, and peace of mind is what the turquoise color represents. It also represents mental clarity, confidence, and energy. It may usually be considered feminine.
Main Differences Between Aqua and Turquoise
- Aqua is a contrast of cyan color. It is basically more on the bluer side than green whereas Turquoise is a greenish-blue color, i.e it looks more like green than blue.
- #00FFFF is the hex code for the aqua color. #30D5C8 is the hex code for the turquoise color.
- The RGB value of Aqua is (0, 255, 255) which means 0 red, 255 green, and 255 blue. On the other hand, the RGB value of Turquoise is (64, 224, 208) which means 64 red, 224 green, and 208 blue.
- The color aqua comes from the Latin word ‘aqua’ and it means ‘water’. “Turquoise” is a French word. It describes a blue-green gemstone that was imported from Turkey. Aqua is a lively color and it can be combined with colors like dark colors like black or grey. It can also be matched with bright colors like yellow or orange. Turquoise is a very versatile color and it can be matched with a range of colors like maroon, pink, yellow, or white.
- Psychologically, trust, liveliness, and rejuvenation are represented by aqua color whereas calmness, peace of mind, confidence, mental clarity, and energy is what is represented by the turquoise color in psychology.
Conclusion
There are several colors like red, yellow, blue, green that can be easily distinguished from each other.
Two colors that resemble one another are difficult to be differentiated. Aqua and Turquoise are examples of such colors. It is often difficult to differentiate between Aqua and Turquoise as they closely resemble each other.
Both aqua and turquoise belong to the cyan spectrum, i.e colors ranging between blue and green. The cyan group consists of three colors. The three colors are aqua, turquoise, and aquamarine. Since all these colors have the shades of blue and green in it they closely resemble one another.
References
- https://www.ogvzw.org/on-request-blue-aqua-and-turquoise-mutations-in-lovebirds/